A Cooking Legacy…

{Cheaters} Pilau Rice

The good thing about using short grain brown rice in this recipe, besides its huge health benefits, is that unlike regular brown rice, short grain rice tends to retain its form and shape and can soak up a lot of flavour. It’s best for ‘one pot’ recipes like this where the rice takes quite a few knocks before being served; I find it it very difficult to over cook this rice surprisingly (see my pumpkin rice recipe as another example).

To be really honest, I am not the greatest fan of brown rice unless its well seasoned; But when I have shared this dish with friends, no one really notices the substitute of brown rice – which is great! A great way to sneak in good food to you health-phobe mates!

The great cheat in this is the Pilau seasoning. Looking at the ingredients on the bottle, I could probably replicate it, but sometimes you just want good food without the effort! And this seasoning tastes pretty authentic to me.

For more information on the health benefits of brown rice, check out my earlier article.

1. Soak the brown rice for 30 minutes. Then draining the water, place the rice in a deep pot with the water about 1/2 inch above the rice. Fast bowl the rice for 15 minutes before bringing the fire down to a medium boil, covering the pot 3/4 of the way and allowing it to cook for a further 10 minutes or until the rice is tender. Drain the rice if necessary.

2. In another frying pan, fry the onions first with some of the coconut oil until they start to caramelise. Then remove the onions and place the peppers in the oil to soften, then remove the peppers.

3. Next place the garlic, tomato paste, pilau seasoning, turmeric and garlic paste in the frying pan, adding more oil if necessary and allow it to fry gently to release the flavours from the seasoning. Then add 1/2 cup of water to the pan and allow the sauce to simmer for 3 minutes.

4. Then taking a large spoon of rice, transfer the rice of the frying pan and stir into the sauce with a fork. Don’t worry if the rice looks ‘wet’ as the rice will absorb the sauce quickly. Keep doing this until all the rice has been transferred and it thoroughly mixed through.

5. Then add return the onions, peppers with the peas to the pan and stir in.